“It’s a whole new world for you, you do not understand where you could go or what you could do,” George Shively said.

Major Shively with the Mercer County Civil Air Patrol flies everywhere.

“The trip down to Florida is 12 hours, three and a half hours in the airplane, it makes a world of difference, but you see things you never see,” he said.

Last May in Smyth County, Shively was one of the Civil Air Patrol members who helped find a downed plane. Even though sometimes it’s not the best situation, he wishes he learned to fly earlier in life.

“My wife has always lived here in the Bluefield area and when I first took her up she had never seen the mountains from above, she’s only seen it from the highway, never from above. And the view from above is absolutely breathtaking, we’re in some of the prettiest country in the country,” Shively said.

According to Alliance for Aviation Across America, in West Virginia general aviation makes up over 23,000 jobs.